The Tribune

By Rev. Angela C. Bosfield Palacious

Psalm 119:11 (NIV) says: “I have hidden your word in my heart.” What does it mean to hide something in one’s heart?
What comes to my mind is that the action of hiding it is to keep it a secret. It is a private experience that may or may not be shared with others. It is a deliberate attempt to have the thought, idea or fact preserved as a permanent influence on one’s future thinking and behaviour. 
We are told that the Lord’s mother pondered in her heart the words spoken to her when the baby Jesus was presented in the temple. This suggests prayerful reflection that would never be too far from her mind.
What do you have hidden in your heart? What do you think about when you have a few moments for your mind to wander from the task at hand. 
Cain, we are told in Genesis 4, becomes very angry when his brother Abel’s gift to God is accepted but his own is rejected. He plots murder in his heart and, at an opportune time, murders him. Similarly, King David carried murderous thoughts in his heart when he decided to have Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, killed in battle, when she becomes pregnant for him. He marries her but is punished by God for his adultery.
If we hide God’s word in our own heart, then it is there as a constant reminder of who we are called to be. When we are tempted to do what is wrong, to sin against God, we are gently or vigorously brought into a state of awareness. Our conscience pricks us, the Holy Spirit nudges us, and our desire to love and please God first, tortures and torments us.
We find it hard to sleep when we are going against everything that God asks of us. We may find it difficult to eat well and digest our food properly. We might develop headaches or some other psychosomatic illness that comes from being stressed.
This is the whole idea of hiding a spiritual truth in our heart. It is supposed to keep us on the straight and narrow. It is meant to prod us into positive action.
 What kind of word should we hide? We need to embrace a word of conviction that speaks of God’s loving kindness, Christ’s willingness to die for us, and the Holy Spirit’s continual presence to guide us into the way of all truth.
It is good to read the Bible daily and see which verse jumps out at us. This is a fresh word that speaks to our present situation. We need words of encouragement, of conviction, of conversion, of forgiveness, of healing, of enlightenment, of empowerment and of transformation.
Be careful what you hide in your heart. Let it not be something that comes back to haunt you, but rather a word from the Lord to bless you and others.